The second time Gina Murillo went to rehab, she was 16 years old. This wasn’t a voluntary visit.
“It took four cops to get me onto the gurney and they had to give me IV sedatives because my heart was literally about to explode,” Murillo said, “I was so amped up and so high on drugs, half of my lip was chewed off,”
Now 35 and almost four years sober, Murillo has worked as a youth mentor, become a Spotify artist under the moniker of “The Modern Day Monk,” and repeatedly made the dean’s list at Colorado Mesa University where she studied clinical psychology.
This change did not occur overnight. For Murillo, her sobriety is the result of decades of struggle and support from her community. However, long-term sobriety is still out of reach for thousands of Mesa County residents.
The scope of substance use in Mesa County
Addiction and…
